For questions 1-15, choose your answer by matching the topics referred to to the correct paragraph (A-K). Some paragraphs may contain references to more than one topic. Some of the choices may be required more than once

Which paragraph refers to


  1. his childhood
    _____
    H
  2. his arrival on the international music scene.
    _____
    D
  3. what he seemed like personally at that time
    _____
    I
  4. his biggest hit to date.
    _____
    B
  5. his activities since then.
    _____
    C
  6. his latest album
    _____
    E
  7. its relationship to his experience.
    _____
    K
  8. his ambitions in musical terms
    _____
    F
  9. the quality of his voice.
    _____
    A
  10. the reasons for his music being critised.
    _____
    E
  11. his public image in his own country.
    _____
    H
  12. the impression he makes on the interviewer now.
    _____
    I
  13. a character in a book rather like him.
    _____
    G
  14. his business activities.
    _____
    I
  15. his charitable work.
    _____
    J

dour

A National Hero Goes Back to Work

A

If you've heard Yossou N'Dour's voice, you'll remember it. Whether wailing in the manner of Senegal's ancients praise singers or crooning, tender and intimate, it has that tinge of gold that makes it extraordinary and unforgettable.


B

In 1994, 7 Seconds, his duet with Neneh Cherry, introduced his formidable instrument to a vast new audience. When I first heard it, I realised that N'Dour, the African musician who had courted Western success more assiduously than anyone, had finally broken into the mainstream. A plea for racial tolerance, 7 Seconds became one of the biggest-selling singles of the Nineties. The accompanying album, The Guide, sold more than a million copies - whereupon N'Dour disappeared.


C

Well, almost. He campaigned for the cancellation of the Third World debt and wrote the official anthem for the 1998 World Cup. At home in Senegal he continued to produce albums for the local market at the rate of two or three a year, as he has done since the late Seventies, enjoying his biggest success there to date. But as far as the international music industry is concerned, his profile has been negligible. What happened? N'Dour is self-confident, but at this question he looks sheepish: 'I built a recording studio in Senegal,' he says. 'I made two records, and I had a son. I didn't even notice that five years had passed.'

D

From his first visit to Britain in 1984, when he astonished a small audience with his complex music (a blend of traditional Senegalese rhythms with jazz), Western success became an obsession for N'Dour. He toured the world with peter Gabriel, Sting and Bruce Springsteen, and recorded a sting of albums, identifying these efforts with the agenda of making people aware of the need to eradicate Africa's inferiority complex and alerting the West to its positive aspects.


E

Now, he has come back with a big, glossy album, Joko - from Village to Town. Released this week, Joko shows that after several years of making relatively simple music for the Senegalese market, N'dour's desire to be an international player is as strong as ever. But the risks of a project that puts itself so squarely on the line for mainstream acceptance must be clear to N'Dour. If it sells, he'll be praised by all for bridging Western and African tastes. If it doesn't, it'll be panned by even his long-standing Western fans.

F

'When I first came here, I was presenting Senegalese music to people who had never heard anything like it. But I've moved on from that. I don't just want to play Senegalese music. I have many influences that I want to explore. And for me this album isn't just world music. It's African music that should stand on its own terms wherever it is.'

G

Two years ago I published The Music in my Head, a satirical novel that examined the world music scene, and it was assumed that the character of Sajar Jopp - 'Africa's greatest musician' - must be based on N'Dour. The connection was perhaps inevitable. It is virtually impossible to look at African music without considering N'Dour.

H

N'Dour was born into a family with traditional musicians, was raised in a poor district, ran away from school to join a band, and was catapulted to national hero status while still a teenager. While he was always steered clear of politics, his status in Senegal makes him a figure of great social and political importance.

I

Yet, at 40 he wears all this remarkably lightly. You could be forgiven, on first meeting, for taking him for just an affable, moderately educated fellow. But you soon sense the restless energy and ambition, the mixture of steeliness, naivety and intuitive intelligence that have kept journalists and observers intrigued since he first turned up here as a 24-year-old, looking very sure of himself. On one level, N'Dour is as much a businessman as a musician. His interest now include nightclubs, restaurants, a newspaper and a radio station.

J

Yet, when he talks about the need to move Africa forward, to change attitudes and create now structures, you feel drawn in by his idealism, that these things can and should happen now. He has supported many good causes, and while in Senegal, his recording studios and record label have vastly improved opportunities for younger artists.

K

The underlying theme of Joko is the way his own journeys have paralleled his country's uneasy transition from a rural to a predominantly urban society. But how can he, with his life of jets and limousines, relate to the unemployed of Dakar or to relatives living in impoverished villages? 'If I've learnt one thing from all my travelling, it's that we have things of value in our own culture that we must protect, not matter what.' N'Dour evidently has a sense of is own destiny. Does he have a clear idea of what he will be doing in ten years' time? Yes,' he says. 'I can't explain to you exactly but I do know. Do you understand?'